Archive | Climate Change

Geeze, I hate to hit you with this stuff first thing in the morning, but somebody’s gotta do it! Via Climate Change:

As President-elect Donald Trump continues to round out his cabinet and White House staff, his policies and priorities are coming more into focus.

All indications so far point to a bleak future for addressing climate change, or even recognizing it as one of the world’s largest challenges. A number of his cabinet nominees, political appointees and closest advisors are outright climate deniers while others have funded the denial of climate change or are lukewarm on accepting the science.

At best, climate action will likely take a backseat to other issues. At worst, there could be an all-out assault on the science, and as important, the funding that makes it possible.

To glean a clearer picture of where Trump’s administration stands and where it may be headed, we’ve created a list of his major cabinet and agency appointees as well as his senior advisors. We’ll continue to update this as appointments are made.

Scientists say that climate change has intensified the deadly wildfires raging through the Appalachian Mountains, but Tennessee state law gives teachers the right to tell students that the science is wrong. According to a New York Times report on Tuesday, the wildfires have been responsible for at least three deaths and 14 injuries. Tens of thousands… Continue Reading →

This is another one of the things Trumpkin misses by refusing his security briefings. Because everyone in the Pentagon knows climate change is a major national security risk:

Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.
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This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.

Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.
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Walker, however, claimed that doubt over the role of human activity in climate change “is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. We need good science to tell us what the reality is and science could do that if politicians didn’t interfere with it.”

WASHINGTON — As the waters from Hurricane Matthew recede, coastal residents from Florida to the Carolinas may have something else to worry about: Zika. The high winds broke through screen doors and windows, knocked out power and left behind small and large bodies of standing water that could be new breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Scientists raised… Continue Reading →

Ebell is an outspoken, longtime skeptic of the scientific consensus that human activity is dramatically changing the climate. He often refers to warnings about global warming as climate “alarmism” and is a vocal critic of President Obama’s climate change regulations.

Ebell has argued that the Clean Power Plan is illegal and that the Paris climate change agreement is unconstitutional.

Tom Steyer — the San Francisco billionaire, political donor and environmental advocate — said Tuesday he would put $20 million of his own money behind a campaign to mobilize 2 million voters in eight swing states to boost support for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The overall effort, which includes partnerships with labor groups, is expected to cost $55 million, Steyer told Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC.

He said they’ll be focusing on “economic justice, environmental justice, racial justice and good schools” and targeting 200 college campuses.

The contribution will go to the For Our Future super PAC, which aims to blunt Republican Donald Trump’s advance in battleground states. Steyer added $15 million to his previous pledge of $5 million.

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders embarked on a new era in California’s effort to combat climate change Thursday when the governor signed a law committing the state to some of the most drastic greenhouse gas emission reductions in the world. “What we’re doing here is far-sighted, as well as far-reaching,” Brown said… Continue Reading →

To add a little context: Most bank tellers make so little money, they qualify for food stamps.

Wells Fargo Bank has agreed to pay the largest fine in history and has fired 5,300 employees for creating “ghost accounts” for customers without their authorization. According to the CFBP release, bank employees opened credit card accounts and other accounts for customers. In some cases, they transferred money from the customer’s existing account into the new… Continue Reading →

So we just had the hottest month in the past 1,000 years, and the scientists say just five more years of carbon dioxide emissions at current levels will destroy any chance of restraining temperatures to a 1.5C increase and avoid runaway climate change.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says we’ve had 14 months of record-breaking temperatures. That means global warming is closer to the point where scientists predict devastating, irreversible consequences.

A few weeks ago, we had a “rare” late-August tornado outbreak in Indiana. Yes, notice the increase in the use of the word “rare” in weather stories – also “unusual,” “unprecedented,” and “record-breaking.”

Chris Field, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University, said in a recent interview, “The scary thing is that we are moving into an era where it will be a surprise when each new month or year isn’t one of the hottest on record.”